Arne Duncan: Public schools ‘lying’ to students and parents

President Barack Obama will deliver a “Back to School” speech to the nation’s students on Sept. 14.

Don’t expect him to be as blunt as U.S. Education Secretary Anrne Duncan was Sunday because that would be a total bummer for the targeted audience.

“As a country we’ve dummied down standards. We’ve reduced them due to political pressure and we’ve actually been lying to children and parents telling them they’re ready when they’re not,” Duncan said in an appearance on ABC’s “This Week”.

Here’s a story and video from ABC and coverage in The Hill.

Duncan’s words are important because he is Obama’s point man in an aggressive effort to reform public schools.

The Race to the Top competition for federal dollars is the most visible piece of the strategy that rewarded states with charter schools and evaluation criteria that drew a link between classroom achievement and teacher performance.

Only a handful of states will share in $4 billion in federal aid and Washington isn’t one of them.

Much has been written about why including this analysis by The News Tribune’s Peter Callaghan.